The Worst of District 209

The school board members of Proviso School District 209 should be embarrassed after the publication of a recent article publication by the West Suburban Journal about the debacle of baseball and softball seasons suffered by Proviso East and Proviso West.  The article mentioned that the baseball teams won eight total games between the two of them.  Proviso West winning six games in their season faced Mount Carmel in the first game of the state playoffs and lasted just four innings before the slaughter rule was put into effect.  Proviso East baseball team found itself on the other side of the slaughter-rule as they defeated Chicago Bogan 11-1 in five innings.  This, coupled with just one other win, gave both Proviso teams a total of 8 wins in 44 games. 

Coach Lidd from Proviso East had a very positive and optimistic Chicago Cub fan like view on the matter – NEXT YEAR.  But as the Cub fans have said “next year,” for the last 102 years, Proviso East has not played in their state regional championship game in eight years when they defeated Saint Ignatius in 2004.  From the outside looking in, it may seem that Coach Lidd has every good reason to be optimistic.  He lost two seniors – one of which did not start and was limited in playing time.  He will wait for the return of his number one pitcher Nathaniel Reese (Jr) and his brother John Reese (Fr.) These two homeschooled children bring strong arms to the mound.  He should also feel good about his catcher Gabe (Jr.) who has the potential of being an West Suburban Conference All Conference player. There is the dependable bat of Tyler (So.), a student at Proviso Math and Science Academy that has no athletic teams and divide the students between both East and West.  Also at that school is Malik Mohammad (fr.) who was the lead off batter and starting second baseman.  Wesley (fr.) who will more than likely turn out to be a very affective power hitter for the team.  Then there is Jabari Morris (fr.).  Morris played centerfield better than any centerfielder that Lidd has seen in his twenty years of coaching varsity baseball. 

With such a potentially solid core of young players, things look like they may be on the upswing.  But looks are deceiving according to Chip, the assistant coach.  Chip has seen all of this before and time after time he has watched the wheels fall off the Lexus and leave the school with yet another jalopy.  What is more interesting is that the school District 209 employees Chip as a basketball coach for the highly competitive girls basketball team that plays late in the season during the state playoffs.  This means that Chip does not have the chance to practice with the team until mid-March when the High School season start March 1.  Even Coach Lidd is spread thin as he coaches the school’s wrestling team that is also extremely competitive in state competition and leaves Lidd scrambling to get players by the March 1^st start date. 

What is interesting is that the IHSA allows coaches 21 contact days with the players before the start of the season and assistant coaches are allowed to do non-related activities with the team.  The winning schools use this time to schedule morning weight lifting sessions and conditioning with their teams while the Proviso team players are left to themselves to condition or develop a conditioning plan.  What is even more ironic is that during the summer of 2011, the district asked all coaches to re-apply for their jobs and then hired coaches to coach multiple sports with overlapping seasons.  In this, the spring sports were hurt as baseball players waited for their coaches to become free. 

Coach Lidd reported that if his team was in the Chicago Public League, they would compete for the City Championship regularly as they eliminated a Chicago Public School team in the last eight years from the State Tournament.  Well, the Proviso schools are not in the Chicago Public School system – one of the most poorly run systems in all major cities.  Generally, people send their children to Suburban schools because there is an illusion of “Better.”  This does not seem to be the reality and Coach Lidd may be a little misled on the facts as Whitney Young, Simeon, Lane Tech, Harlan, and Clemente would have a lot to say about Proviso East’s competitiveness.    

The best thing that could possibly happen in this situation is that parents who have obviously very talented children will invest in fighting for the rights of their children and take these concerns to the district board and beyond if necessary.  Furthermore, these parents would better serve their children by combining forces and sharing resources on batting instructors, pitching instructors and camps like those sponsored by Armature Baseball Report.